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A woman who needs treatment for Lyme disease during pregnancy will receive a different kind of antibiotic treatment than usual.

Diagnosis

Ideally, treatment should occur as soon as the EM rash appears.

If a person has been in an area where Lyme disease is common, and they have symptoms, treatment can start even without a blood test.

This is because the antibodies to the bacteria take from 2 to 6 weeks to show up in blood tests, so a blood test done within a month of infection may give a false result.

People should tell their doctor at once if they:

live in a high-risk area

have symptoms that could indicate Lyme disease

have recently been exposed to ticks

If early-stage Lyme disease is not treated, there is a serious risk of more severe symptoms later on, even years later.

Patients with swollen joints or neurological symptoms may be advised to have a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test to check for bacterial DNA. Fluid is drawn from either the infected joint or the spine, in a spinal tap.

Treatment

During the early stages of Lyme disease, treatment with antibiotic medication generally results in a rapid and complete recovery.

In the later stages, especially if the person has arthritis and neurological conditions, intravenous antibiotics, or antibiotic injections, will be necessary.

Even after treatment is over, patients may still test positive for anti-B. burgdorferi antibodies, but this does not necessarily mean they still have Lyme disease.

Prevention

The incidence of Lyme disease appears to be on the rise in the U.S.

The National Science Foundation suggest this could be due to forest fragmentation, as smaller fragments of forest seem to harbor more ticks.

Small patches of woodland are common in cities and suburban and rural areas. They are a popular habitat for white-footed mice, because there are fewer predators.

White-footed mice are the main carriers of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. When blacklegged ticks feed on the mice, they can pass on the bacteria.

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